Swimming
by TheMuseCalliope
Summary: In which The Doctor is faced with a selection of swimwear and Rose in a red bikini.


Swimming.

She wanted him to go swimming. With her.

The Doctor stood inside the wardrobe room and stared up at the seemingly endless variety of clothing in despair. It went almost without saying that he had already resigned himself to his swimming fate. He shook his head, annoyed with himself. It seemed that he was unable to deny Rose anything when she gave him that beseeching look.

Which was, come to think of it, how he'd ended up in this predicament in the first place.

Rose had somehow heard about what she'd termed "the perfect beach for relaxing." This "perfect beach" included a reef to keep the big waves away, warm water, and even trees for shade. Was this beach on some exotic alien planet?

No. It turned out to be on Kauai. Current, modern (for her), Earth-based Kauai. Worse yet, he had been unable to find out who had told her about the beach in the first place. The Doctor didn't have anything against the Hawaiian Islands per se, but there had been this lovely little planet he'd been planning to show Rose. Somewhere that promised to have a nice dictator to thwart along the way. Rose, on the other hand, insisted that they both needed a vacation, and she'd followed this statement with That Look. Her brown eyes got big, her expression became somehow hopeful and pleading at the same time, and she worried a bit of her bottom lip with her teeth.

And he'd changed the flight plan from Solunal in the year 7,003 A.I. (after invasion) to Kauai, Hawaii, USA, Earth 2006 C.E. with the distinct feeling that she knew exactly what That Look did to him. To make things worse, they'd landed _exactly_ when and where she'd wanted, even though he really hadn't been that careful with the co-ordinates. Could it be possible that Rose and the TARDIS were conspiring against him?

Apparently the beach really was "perfect" as it met with Rose's immediate approval. She'd grinned happily and given him an excited hug before heading towards her room to change. She'd stopped just shy of the door to the rest of the TARDIS, however, and turned to look back at him. "Aren't you going to change?"

He'd looked at her blankly. Change?

Seeing his puzzled expression she'd added, "Or are you planning on swimming in the suit?"

He'd blinked at her, her meaning slowly dawning on him. But before he could protest that he'd been planning on making some vital repairs to the TARDIS, she'd given him That Look again and he'd found himself in the wardrobe room almost before he'd realized what was happening.

Muttering to himself about not needing a vacation, The Doctor got as far as the mirror and stopped dead. He no longer had any doubts. Somehow, the TARDIS was in league with Rose. Laid out neatly in front of the mirror he found a selection of swimwear that varied from the mundane to the exotic. He snorted with laughter at the sight of 1920s American bathing costume sitting demurely next to some exotic feathered creation from the twin pleasure planets of Alia Major. The Doctor frowned. He didn't remember owning one of those, and he certainly wasn't going to be caught dead wearing it. How had it ended up here? He managed to stop himself just as he began wondering if Rose might enjoy a trip to Alia Major. He had to choose a swimming suit. Imagining Rose in that kind of feathered outfit was not the sort of distraction he needed right now.

Sighing, The Doctor got down to business. He steadily worked his way through a startling number of bathing suits until he was left with just two. Two that he thought would be appropriate for the time and place, anyway. A Speedo and a pair of knee-length, multi-colored, draw-string surfer shorts. He just couldn't decide between these two, and he was a bit worried by the amount of time he had taken to get this far. It would not surprise him if Rose took it into her head to come and see what was taking him so long. He enjoyed the colors and designs on the shorts, but the Speedo might look good on him. This new body was a bit foxy, after all, and perhaps Rose would like what she saw…

Halting that train of thought right in its tracks The Doctor wondered where that thought had come from. Was he actually hoping that Rose would think he looked sexy in his bathing suit?

Wait a minute. What was she going to wear?

The fact that Rose would undoubtedly look very sexy in her bathing suit had just dawned upon him, when the woman in question appeared in the doorway to the wardrobe room.

In a bright red bikini.

Okay, she did have a sarong tied around her waist like a skirt and a pair of decorative sandals on her feet, but his brain was too busy sounding mauve alerts to pay much attention to anything beyond the words: Rose. Is. Wearing. A. Red. Bikini.

His breath caught in his throat, and he was pretty sure that at least one of his hearts had stopped. How in the Universe was he supposed to keep a proper distance from his Companion when she insisted on looking so…so…desirable? And she was planning on going outside like that?

He had only just managed to stop himself from insisting that she put on some more clothing, like maybe…a nun's habit, when she crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly.

"Are you ready yet?"

And that's about the moment that it occurred to him that Speedos were skin tight.

The Doctor grabbed the surfer shorts and a towel and ducked quickly behind a changing screen. It would just be safer this way.


End file.
